LIFE AND LEGACY OF Dr. Shirley Marie Diggs Hopkins-Davis
One of Mississippi’s beloved educators, Dr. Shirley Marie Diggs Hopkins-Davis, transitioned July 3, 2026. She was 76. A celebration of life service was held July 10th at Pearl Street AME Church in West Jackson.
Shirley was born to Roosevelt Diggs Sr. and Henrietta Theresa Johnson Nervis on May 20, 1950, in Fitler, Mississippi.
At age 10, she was baptized in a creek off Highway 1 in her hometown and later united with Christian Home Baptist Church in Tallulah, MS.
Once Shirley moved to Vicksburg, MS, with grandparents Louis Pink/Mariah Nervis and Aunt Eva Marie Farish, she joined Springhill Baptist Church.
In 1969, Shirley married Clarence Hopkins, and during her college years at Jackson State University, where she received her BA and MA degrees in English Literature (Speech minor), she began a lifetime of service at Pearl Street African Methodist Episcopal Church under the pastorate of Rev. William Portis.
Shirley and Clarence poured love and Christian values into their three children: Clarence Jr., Terilyn Deche’, and Patrick Rudolph (deceased). In later years, when the couple chose different life paths, Shirley married Samuel W. Davis in 1996.
Her professional pathway started years earlier in 1973 as a faculty member at Utica Junior College, teaching English/Composition. In 1977, she furthered her studies at Kansas State University, where she received the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum and Instruction (emphasis in reading/linguistics) in 1979.
Over the next decade, her teaching career would expand even further and offer opportunities in educational administration.
In 1989, she began work as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages at Jackson State University. She became director of several Title III programs through 1992, and then became director of all Title III programs on the Utica campus.
Her first retirement came in 2003, but she returned to the position of Title III Coordinator as a part-time employee in 2004, and remained until 2010 when she accepted a position in Washington, DC with the AME Church.
In 2011, she was called back to Hinds CC – Utica Campus to serve as Dean of Instruction. By 2012, she came out of retirement and remained Dean until 2014, when she decided to go into permanent retirement.
She received many honors and awards during her 40-plus years of service at the College: three times as Outstanding Non-Teaching Staff and once as Distinguished Non-Teaching Staff. In 2019, Dr. Hopkins-Davis was honored as Outstanding Administrator at Hinds CC – Utica Campus during her tenure of service.
She was also honored to pen the resolution to name the J. D. Boyd Gym court (Utica Campus) the Earl Joe Nelson Basketball Court; the ceremony was held on February 17, 2020. That same year she was awarded Emeritus status. In 2022, she was honored to have the Hinds CC – Utica Campus Auditorium named in her honor.
An active, long-standing member of Pearl Street AME Church, Dr. Hopkins-Davis worked diligently in several offices/departments at different levels of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a Stewardess, a Steward, Director of Christian Education, Sunday School teacher, member of the Women’s Missionary Society and Lay Organization, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Pearl Street Community Development Corporation. She was the first to be elected from the 8th Episcopal District as Connectional WMS First Vice President (2007) and 8th WMS President (2010-2011).
Dr. Hopkins-Davis had a beautiful life, one during which she enjoyed teaching thousands of college students (including her own children), as well as working with the young people of Pearl Street AME Church.
Additionally, she enjoyed writing and securing grants to provide support for educational development on the Utica Campus of Hinds Community College. She enjoyed speech-making at various churches and other special events. She loved presenting workshops on various relevant issues, of which she was knowledgeable.
In her later years, Dr. Hopkins-Davis came to appreciate history. She compiled histories of certain segments of the Utica Campus of Hinds: Histories of Annual Thanksgiving Dinner, Founder’s Day, and the life of founder William Henry Holtzclaw.
The celebrated chronicler received great applause for compiling the history of the 8th District Women’s Missionary Society, the 8th District Lay Organization, and the Laura Felts Women’s Missionary Society.
In 2016, Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Boyd Sr. appointed Dr. Hopkins-Davis as historiographer of the church. She loved writing, and she was constantly recording information to be available to future generations.
In her lifetime, Dr. Hopkins-Davis expressed that God had favored her to be able to teach, lead, and testify to His goodness here in Mississippi and abroad as far as the Motherland.
An entire village remains to cherish her memories, including husband Samuel, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, and friends.
